


nowhere space

by gh0stly



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Body Horror, Canon Divergent, Forced Alliance, Gen, Obi-wan is a little shit, Original Clones- Clone OCs, Parasites, Swearing, The Dark Side of the Force, mind-control, my favourite trope to write
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-18
Updated: 2017-06-18
Packaged: 2018-11-15 20:22:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11238483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gh0stly/pseuds/gh0stly
Summary: Tracking down and capturing the so-called true lords of the Sith turns out to be the easy part. As an alien parasite takes over the crew one by one, old enemies are forced to work together if they want to make it out alive.





	nowhere space

The Jedi responded to a tip from one of the Council’s many eyes and ears scattered out in the far reaches of the galaxy. The two criminals known as Darth Maul and Savage Opress had resurfaced again; they murdered two weequay supposedly connected to one of the underground crime families in the outer rim. Obi-wan Kenobi was the first volunteer to hunt them down, a dozen clone volunteers from different squadrons close behind him. He didn’t know what they were planning, but it didn’t matter. He was going to stop it.

 

After a long waiting game, their leads came through. Obi-wan and his new team tracked the Sith to the remote planet in the outer rim. But the Sith were clever. They knew when they were being followed. Within an hour of landing on Tatooine, the Sith had fled. They followed them across three separate planets before finally cornering them in the jungle planet of Uurla Minor. They found the burning remains of their crashed ship. Obi-wan ordered his men to check for bodies, though he knew it was pointless. They survived. Of  _ course _ they survived.

 

There the team hunted them for almost two weeks, catching glimpses of the brothers every few days up in the mountains or in the valleys before losing them again, some of the only signs they’d been there at all were the occasional scattered bones of an animal or a stomped out campfire.

 

Eventually, Obi-wan came across the site of an accident. He suspected one of the brothers had been injured- Captain Rex found spots of blood on the ground, and there were scores in the dirt that suggested a struggle. There were strange creatures on Uurla Minor, perhaps they had been attacked. Or perhaps a fight had broken out between the two of them. Either way, It had been the first good sign in days. The very next morning, Obi-wan and his squad finally,  _ finally _ caught up to them.

 

They found the brothers hiding in an abandoned building. They were armed to the teeth, he knew that much. In their first attempt to approach the building, a grenade came sailing out of  the top window, and it would have landed right between Rex and Fives if Obi-wan hadn’t reached out with the force and batted it away, sending it into the treeline before it exploded.

 

He couldn’t send his soldiers in without risking their lives. No matter the outcome of this manhunt, no matter if he caught the brothers or they slipped away again, Obi-wan would not lose another soul to the Sith. He ordered his men to surround the building. He would wait. He would stand there and he would wait until the stars died out if he had to.

 

The suns crossed the sky three times before the brothers, to Obi-wan’s shock, relinquished the building, hands in the air. The taller one, Savage, was hunched over, and he walked with a heavy limp. So _ that  _ was the reason they had slowed down. Obi-wan wondered why Maul hadn’t just abandoned him.

 

Rex had them quickly arrested. When Obi-wan approached Maul, cuffs in his hands, he’d expected... _ something. _ A struggle. An outburst. Some snide remark. Instead, Maul silently outstretched his wrists and allowed Obi-wan to bind his hands. Those gleaming force-burnt eyes stared into his, and never wavered.

 

Presently, Obi-wan watched the blue hues of hyperspace wisp across the wide viewport of the ship’s bridge. Their capture had almost felt… anti-climactic. These things usually ended in surrender, or they ended in death. He hadn’t imagined the sith would ever choose the former.

 

If it was a trap, he didn’t see the point in it. Now they remained in the reinforced brig. It would take them four standard days to return to Coruscant. Three days in, and no escape attempts had been made. It was quiet. The quiet unsettled him.

 

A sharp beeping from the comms panel snapped Obi-wan out of his thoughts. He pressed the blinking red button. Mace Windu’s blue hologram flickered to life. Odd. The ship’s check-in wasn’t for another two hours.

 

“Master Windu.” he said.

 

“Master Kenobi,” Windu greeted. Never being one for small talk, he continued. “A separatist ambush has occurred directly in the middle of your route back to Coruscant.”

 

Obi-wan and the pilot exchanged worried glances. CT-2927, or Birdy to his squad, had been among the first to raise his hand to volunteer for this mission, the second Maul and Savage were named. Rex saw him as ambitious and willing to serve. Obi-wan hoped he didn’t prove to be in over his head.

 

“We suspect General Grevious is behind it,” Windu continued. “It would be unwise to continue on your current route. I’m issuing you coordinates to go around safely around the battlefield and continue onwards.”

 

The comms panel bleeped. Birdy flicked up the coordinates and his brow furrowed as he read them.

 

“We could join the fight.” Obi-wan offered, but Windu shook his head.

 

“We can’t risk the prisoners getting free.” Windu said, “It has taken us this long to capture them. Taking them to Coruscant and bringing them in for questioning is your top priority.”

 

“Pardon me, Master Windu,” Birdy spoke up, “but this route will take us almost three parsecs out of our way, and out in to deep space. Is there no quicker route we can take?”

 

“I’m afraid not. This is the safest route our computers have calculated for you.”

 

Obi-wan nodded, “Thank you, Master Windu. We will adjust our course accordingly.”

 

He gave Birdy a look, and the clone pursed his lips and input the coordinates.

 

“So tell me, General,” Windu said as Birdy quietly adjusted their course, “how are the prisoners?”

 

Obi-wan hesitated. “Quiet.” he said eventually, “They surrendered without resistance. They haven’t so much as spoken since their capture. Oppress had suffered an injury and has since been healed, but still… Surrender was the last thing anyone expected.”

 

“You feel like it may be a trap.”

 

“Perhaps.” he said, “I’m not sure. It seems unlikely, but something just doesn’t feel right.”

 

“I believe you may be letting your... personal involvement with Maul cloud your reasoning,” Windu said, “Whatever their reasons for surrendering, the fact is they’ve been captured. Bringing them safely to Coruscant is all that matters, General.”

 

Obi-wan bristled slightly at the tone in his voice. It made him feel like a padawan again. “Yes, Master Windu.”

 

The Jedi Master’s hologram flickered and disappeared. Only when he felt an ache in the palm of his hands did he realize his fingernails were biting into his skin. He turned and opened the cockpit door.

 

“General? Where are you going?” the pilot asked.

 

“To the brig.” Obi-wan answered, and the door clicked shut behind him.

 

\---

 

“Are you sure you want to go down there alone, sir?” Rex pressed, sounding uncertain, “I could go with you. I can send some extra troopers.”

 

The door of the elevator hissed open and the two men stepped out. Rex stayed close at his heels as he led them down the hallway.

 

Obi-wan smiled and waved a dismissive hand. “Don’t worry about me, Captain. This ship is equipped with some of the strongest cells in our army’s arsenal. There’s no way they can get out.”

 

“I know that, sir. But still…” he frowned, looking for the right words, “I don’t pretend to understand the force, and I certainly don’t pretend to understand the sith. I’m concerned that they could… play tricks on you. Provoke you into opening their cells, or something.”

 

Obi-wan’s tone was amused. “Captain Rex, if they wanted to escape, surely they would have tried already.”

 

“You sound confident.” Rex remarked.

 

They approached the brig at the end of the hallway. Rex gestured to the two troopers next to the locked metal door and they saluted in acknowledgement. As they turned the latch and began to turn the wheel, Obi-wan felt uncertainty swirl in the pit of his stomach. It was silly of him. There was no way the sith brothers were getting out. Even so, it felt like opening the doors to a lion’s den.

 

“Can I ask what this is about, sir?” pressed Rex.

 

The door opened with the tumbling of internal locks and swung inwards with a hiss.

 

“No.” Obi-wan answered finally, and made his way down the stairs.

 

The metal door swung shut behind him, but he didn’t hear it lock. He stood on a ledge of metal. The narrow stairway led out into the holding cells, the red light from the barriers reaching in to illuminate the gridded floor. The soft hum of the barriers and whisper of voices were the only sounds to be heard. When Obi-wan began to descend, his footsteps a hollow echo, the voices went silent.

 

He entered the room. The sith occupied two of the four cells in the brig, each on opposing sides, separated by a four foot wide walkway.

 

Obi-wan avoided looking directly into the cells. Instead he inspected the barriers. Sixteen power couplings in total were embedded in the foot-thick durasteel, connected to their own individual electrical generators designed to keep running even in the event of a ship-wide blackout. If the ship’s own back-ups went cold, these cells would still remain operational. The only way to disable them was manually in the bridge. He had nothing to worry about.

 

“Kenobi,” came that familiar sneer. “I was wondering when you’d show your face. Come to interrogate us?”

 

Obi-wan peered into the holding cell. Illuminated by the red light of the barrier was Darth Maul, sitting cross-legged in the centre of the floor. In the cell opposite stood Savage Opress, his arms crossed and those yellow eyes boring holes directly into the back of Obi-wan’s head.

 

“That’s not my job, Maul.” Obi-wan answered, “At least, not yet. Not until we reach Coruscant.”

 

“You must be eager.” Maul said, “I saw it in your eyes on Uurla minor, and I can see it in the way you look at me now. You can’t wait for your chance to take your anger out on--”

 

Obi-wan raised a hand. “No, Maul, you don’t steer the conversation here. You are not the one in that position. You both are under  _ my _ control. You will listen to what  _ I _ have to say. Do you understand me?”

 

Savage growled. Maul’s sneer faded, and he stood up. “Then talk.”

 

“I came to ask why you turned yourselves in,” Obi-wan said, “Men like you, you could have lasted longer. You could have fought, and you may well have won. Why did you surrender?”

 

Maul began to pace his cell, back and forth in that restless way, those glistening yellow eyes locked with Obi-wan’s. Even though there was no way of escaping, Obi-wan didn't look away for a second.

 

“I have questions of my own, Kenobi.” Maul said, “I will answer yours, if you answer mine.”

 

“And as I’ve said, you are not the one in control here.”

 

“And as you can see, I have nothing left for you to take.”

 

SIlence fell. Obi-wan crossed his arms, raised a hand to stroke his beard. Maul wasn’t the type of man that could be threatened. He couldn’t be tortured or beaten or broken, for there was nothing that could be done to him that he hadn’t already endured. If Obi-wan wanted answers, he needed to step back and give him equal footing.

 

“We surrendered,” Maul began, evidently deciding to indulge his little game, “because it was clear we were outmatched. Now for my question.”

 

“That’s not enough. There are twelve clones on this squad, and I’ve seen you take down many more pirates and criminals. People far less willing to show you mercy.”

 

“We were starving, and we were weakened, and we were injured.” Maul said plainly, “It was the logical decision.”

 

Obi-wan scoffed. “I’m sorry, you never struck me as the type to concede defeat.”

 

Maul ignored him, his pacing never faltered. “I’ve answered your question, now answer mine.”

 

“Alright then. Ask.”

 

“Why have we changed course?”

 

“How did you know that?”

 

“I felt the ship drop out of hyperspace.”

 

Obi-wan hesitated.

 

“A slight… detour was called for.” he answered slowly, “A fight broke out along our original route. Separatists. We have to go around.”

 

“These cells are too cramped.” Savage said, speaking for the first time. His voice didn’t rasp like his brother’s did, sharp and biting as a winter’s breeze. His voice was cold in a different way. His words dropped to the floor like stones.

 

“Not to worry, Savage,” Obi-wan said, “we’ll find you both the most comfortable prison cells in Coruscant. How’s the leg?”

 

Savage shifted his weight and glared. “Is  _ that _ your question?”

 

“Better, I hope,” Obi-wan said brightly, ignoring him, “You know, I was surprised. Kix, good old Kix, he insisted on fixing you up. I should have expected it of him; he’s a good medic and he can’t stand to see people in pain. I said to him, but Kix, these monsters don’t  _ count _ as people. I said that the least that beast could do to make up for the lives he’s wrongly ended was endure an infected wound to the leg. But since you’re our prisoner, Kix fixed you anyway. And you didn’t try to bite him  _ once _ ! All things considered, despite everything that’s happened between you and me, I’ve got to say I’m proud of you.”

 

“If you’re trying to talk me to death instead, I’d rather you just kill me now.” Savage answered.

 

“Oh, you’re witty! I hadn’t taken you for the type. And now we’re getting to know each other.”

 

“If I wasn’t stuck in here I’d strangle you.”

 

“Ah, but that’s the thing. You _ are  _ stuck in there. Both of you. You’ll be taken to Coruscant and you will stand trial and you’ll be thrown in a cell to rot.”

 

“You want revenge,” Maul said, smiling, “How precious.”

 

“No,” Obi-wan answered, and edge to his tone, “I want justice.”

 

“Justice is just a word men like you use to put yourselves on pedestals.” Maul told him, “Call it what it is, Kenobi. You want revenge. You want to see us in prison and you want to see us rot.”

 

Obi-wan didn’t say anything. He didn’t want to indulge him. He was trying to steer the conversation again and it wasn’t going to work.

 

“My turn.” Maul said after a moment.

 

The relentless pacing stopped, and he stood directly in front of Obi-wan, peering at him with an unreadable expression. They were barely two inches apart. In his mind’s eye, Obi-wan saw that crimson barrier flickering and dying, and there being nothing to stop the Sith from reaching out and wrapping his hands around his throat and squeezing until his throat caved in.

 

Maul’s lips pulled back to reveal his yellow teeth in a smile that opened like a wound.

 

“How often do you think about Qui-Gon Jinn?”

 

A horrific metallic screech grated through the hallway and the ship jerked sideways and Obi-wan’s feet flew out from under him, sending him tumbling down the hall. His heart froze as the ship’s lights went out. He got to his feet, the ship’s lights flickering to life again almost as quickly, and he turned and ran for the stairs. He didn’t look in at Maul. He couldn’t stand to look at him.

 

He ran up the steps just as the door opened at the hand of one of the clones.

 

“General Kenobi, are you alright?!” he cried over the sound of the blaring alarms.

 

“I’m fine.” Obi-wan said. He hoped the crack in his voice passed off as panicked. “What happened?”

 

“I don’t know sir. We’ve dropped out of hyperspace.”

 

“Lock that door again and go check on the other troopers. They should still be in the mess hall.”

 

The clone saluted. Obi-wan turned and made his way to the bridge, thinking to take the stairs instead of the lift. By now the thunderous rumbling in the ship had died away. The door opened to reveal Rex and Fives hunched over the control panel while Birdy gripped the starships steering thrusters, pulling with all his strength to level out the craft against the sudden strain of being thrown out of lightspeed.

 

“Rex!” Obi-wan barked over the blaring of the alarms.

 

“We’ve dropped out of hyperspace, General. Into an asteroid field,” Rex answered, his voice urgent but not panicked.

 

“I can see that!”

 

Fives left the control panel and quickly strapped himself into the co-pilot seat. “We’ve got it under control, General. Birdy, are the shields still operational?”

 

“They’re operational now, sir,” Birdy answered, his voice strained as he pulled the controls, “but I think the hull took a nasty hit when we dropped out.”

 

“What  _ happened? _ ” Obi-wan demanded, “How could we drop out of hyperspace?”

 

“Interference of some kind?” Birdy suggested, though he was mostly talking to himself, “Did we account for the gravitational pull of nearby stars? No, there’s no stars close enough to pull us out of--”

 

“Focus, Birdy!” Rex snapped, “Work on getting us safely through this asteroid field first.”

 

Now the ship was tipping nose-down. Obi-wan rushed to a seat near the back of the small cockpit and strapped himself in. Oh, sometimes he hated flying. He watched, shaking, as Birdy and Fives barked orders at each other. Birdy pulled the handles with all his strength while Fives worked on twisting his own control thrusters this way and that to avoid the heavy onset of asteroids.

 

They veered right and Obi-wan could almost feel then zooming by. Birdy levelled out the craft, but in the second it took him to look down at the controls, a huge asteroid past the viewport and Obi-wan heard a thundering _ BOOM  _ as the cockpit was plunged into darkness.

 

“ _ Birdy! _ ” he screamed.

 

“ _ I got it, I got it _ \--”

 

His back pressed into the seat as the ship pulled upwards. The lights flickered back on as the frigate rose above the field, leaving the danger below them. The whole ship shuddered as if it shook with fear. But no other crashes came, and Obi-wan shut his eyes and inhaled deeply as the ship leveled out into clear space.

 

Birdy’s white-knuckled grip on the controls loosened, and he slouched back in his chair. His chest rattled with a sigh of relief. He wiped the sweat from his forehead.

 

“We’re out. We made it.” he said, with a little nervous laugh.

 

Obi-wan could finally breathe again. He saw Fives and Rex exchange relieved looks.

 

“Safest route, my ass,” mumbled Birdy.

 

“What’s the damage?” asked Obi-wan, his shaking fingers fumbling with the buckles of his straps.

 

“The hull took a beating.” Fives said, the blue light from the panel casting shadows on his angled face. “The life support systems are undamaged, but one of the asteroids hit remarkably close to the engine room. I recommend sending someone down to make sure everything’s in working order.”

 

Obi-wan nodded and tapped his comm unit. “Clone trooper Flint.”

 

_ “Yes, General.”  _ came the voice over the crackling frequency.

 

“Go to the engine room and assess the damage.”

 

_ “Yes, sir.”  _ Flint answered, and the comms switched off.

 

Flint was a good mechanic and he was a dutiful soldier.  He probably didn’t deserve what happened to him next.

 

\---

 

Flint steadied himself on the wall as he made his way to the control room. The danger was over for now, but he still felt as if the ship was off-balance, tilting on its axis. He reached the metal door, tapped the access code into the datapad, and entered.

 

The dull creaking of the frigate and the familiar hum of the engines were the only sounds to be heard. Flint raised his hand to the side of his helmet and flicked on the torch. He drew his fingers over the familiar buttons of the engine control and tried to see what he could find.

 

A shrieking hiss and a blast of cold air caused him to cry out and flinch- as one of the pipes from the interlocking network above his head had ruptured and white gas billowed out. Flint cursed, stumbling backwards and away from the control panel.

 

He looked up at the ruptured pipe. It was one of the many on the ship that regulated carbon-dioxide and released it out into space. They had back-ups upon back-ups on this frigate, but if one burst that could endanger the whole--

 

Flint stopped, his hand halfway to his commlink. He squinted up at the pipe, in and around the network. Had something moved? There was a creaking sound, a hollow  _ tip tip tip _ from the ceiling. Not unlike the normal creaking expected in the ship, but it sounded almost… independent of it. Like someone was tapping their fingernails.

 

_ Tip tip tip _ the sound moved down to the other side of the room in a second, faster than Flint’s torch light could follow it. Faster than he could believe.

 

_ “Flint, what’s happened?” _ came Rex’s crackling voice over the commlink,  _ “We’ve detected a breach in one of the vents. Is everything alright?” _

 

But Flint hadn’t heard him finish. He had looked down at his commlink in response. He’d only looked for half a second. That was all it took.

 

Something lept from the darkness, crawling under his armour too fast for his desperate hands to grab. It’s many legs stung like needles as they caught the skin of his soft throat, crawling ever upwards. The clicking noises filled his helmet until there was nothing else, and he felt those many legs and pincers part his lips and pry his clenched jaws wide open with unbelievable strength.  His scream never left his throat.

 

\---

 

“Flint?” Rex repeated, “Flint, come in. Come in.”

 

Obi-wan’s hands gripped the pilot seats shoulders as he looked down at the diagram of the engine room. A certain area of pipes flashed red on the blue screen. He looked at Fives, an uneasy knot in his chest. Fives bit into his knuckles. He had a bad feeling about this.

 

No sooner had he thought this than the red flashing had stopped altogether, and the beeping alarm ceased.

 

_ “Sorry, sir.” _ said Flint, and Obi-wan released the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding,  _ “I had to contain the breach. Systems operational.” _

 

“Good job, soldier.” Rex said proudly, “that could’ve been bad.”

 

_ “It’s cold down here.” _

 

Rex nodded, “Heat doesn’t get redirected to the engine room. Why don’t you go to your cabin? You’ve done enough for the day.”

 

Flint’s signal shut off.

 

“Well, thank goodness for that.” Obi-wan said, “I thought we were in some deep trouble. Birdy, can you get us back on track?”

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

“How long until our next check-in?”

 

“One hour ten minutes, sir.”

 

Obi-wan nodded absently, his thoughts already drifting to that room down below. “Good job, Birdy.”

 

He left without another word.

 

\---

 

The longer Birdy stayed on the frigate, the more he felt he didn’t deserve the honour. Before this, before he’d raised his hand and realized just what he’d volunteered for (in all honesty, he hadn’t really been listening), he’d been nothing more than a foot soldier. A foot soldier and, yes, a somewhat talented pilot. That didn’t exactly make him  _ qualified _ to bring in two huge galactic criminals, and yet here he sat at the control panel, next to Arc Trooper Fives and Captain goddamn Rex.

 

He was young and inexperienced, yes, but he was  _ clever _ . He knew an opportunity when he saw one. When Obi-wan Kenobi asked for volunteers, you raised your hand. You went in without question because that’s how you make a name for yourself. That’s how you get remembered, even if it scared you shitless. There was nothing a shiny like Birdy could have wanted more.

 

Like when the 501st came back from Umbara. He’d been out of the academy for about three months at that point. He’d heard the stories. He’d read all the reports. Pong Krell turned out to be a traitor; he’d turned his back on the Jedi code in the hopes that Count Dooku would accept him as an apprentice. He killed clones because it was  _ fun. _ Birdy wished he could’ve been there to see Dogma take him down. After Umbara, nameless soldiers in the 501st were talked about. They were stared at when they walked by. They were  _ remembered. _

 

Birdy wouldn’t call himself  _ vain _ for wanting a bit of recognition, exactly. _ Ambitious  _ would be the word he’d use. He wanted to serve, and he wanted to be a good soldier. When Obi-wan asked him if he could fly the frigate, Birdy did what any sensible soldier on his way to the top would do. He exaggerated his skill.

 

Hm. Now that he said it to himself, he sounded like an idiot.

 

The cockpit door opened with a hiss, and Birdy turned in his seat to look. Clone trooper Owl stood in the doorway. He was years older than Birdy, but not so old that he forgot what it was like to be a shiny, just trying to prove himself.

 

“Oh hey, Owl.” Birdy said, “Come to check on me?”

 

“I’ve come to relieve you.” Owl said, entering the cockpit with an easy smile, “You’ve been cramped in here for ten hours. My turn.”

 

Birdy stood up, and his joints cracked. His ass felt numb. He rolled his arm around as he moved out of the seat and made way for his brother. “Usually I’d argue, but maybe you’re right. I’m stiff as a board.”

 

“Go get some rest. After the asteroid thing, I think you’ve earned it.”

 

Birdy grinned, “Did pretty good, didn’t I?”

 

“Well, we’re not entirely dead, so yes, I’d say you did. Lucky Fives and Rex are here though, right?”

 

Birdy nodded, “Yeah. Oh man, I can’t believe I’m really serving under them.”

 

Owl laughed. “It’s amazing, isn’t it? When you hear all the stories, they kinda stop sounding like real people. They sound like heroes.”

 

“They  _ are _ heroes.” Birdy said as Owl sat in the pilot’s seat. “Right, I’m off to bed. Don’t fly in to any asteroids when I’m gone.”

 

Owl laughed. “G’night, soldier.”

 

Birdy picked up his own helmet as he flicked a button and opened the door to the cockpit. His limbs felt heavy with exhaustion, and he stifled a yawn. After all the adrenaline wore off it left him more tired than he realized. He passed another clone down the hallway as he put his helmet on. He turned a corner, his boots tapping on the metal floors. He opened the door to the cabins, passed Joker and Boxer fast asleep on their bunks, and crawled under his covers after casting off his armour. Sleep eagerly consumed him.

 

\---

 

When Birdy awoke, it felt like it was from an alarming dream he couldn’t remember. He blinked, groggily raising his head to look around in the dark. He heard the faint snores of his brothers. Nothing out of the ordinary, and yet something tugged at him, something deep inside hissing in his ear  _ get up get up go go go. _

 

He gripped the edge of his blanket to remove it, but the door to the cabin hissed open. Something deep inside him told him to stay still.  _ Don’t move _ . He quickly laid his head back on the mattress and pretended to sleep, keeping his eyes ever so slightly open.

 

Flint stood in the doorway. He looked...odd. Off. He stepped forward, arms slightly outstretched as if trying to balance himself. Each step was deliberate. Something in Birdy’s chest twisted. He didn’t dare move.

 

Flint moved to the bunks. He had a strange look on his face. Placid, blank. He knelt down to Boxer’s bunk. Grabbed him by the jaw. Birdy couldn’t see it well in the dark but it was almost like he bent down to whisper in his ear. Boxer’s startled struggling ended abruptly. He went limp, but his body shuddered with a harsh bout of coughing.

 

What the  _ hell? _

 

Flint moved to Joker’s bed and did the same. Boxer sat up, his hitched breathing evened out. Joker sat up.

 

Their heads swivelled to Birdy.

 

Birdy jumped up from the bed and his brothers moved in sync, crossing the space between them and reaching out to grab him. Birdy punched Boxer right across the jaw and sent him spinning, but Joker was at his side and he sent a fist into his exposed ribs. The wind knocked out of him, Birdy stumbled. Joker moved again and struck, and Birdy’s head snapped back and he hit the wall.

 

Joker gripped him by the collar of his undershirt. Boxer picked himself up the off the floor. Birdy could hardly make out Joker’s face in the dim light, but while his own eyes were wide with panic, Joker’s were hooded and calm, glazed over as if in a deep sleep.

 

“Joker, what are you  _ doing?!” _ Birdy screamed. Shouting was good. Shouting hid the shaking in his voice. “It’s me, you idiot! It’s your brother!”

 

Joker gripped him by the throat and squeezed. He slammed him back into the wall. Pain shot up Birdy’s back and he panicked. He headbutted Joker in the nose, heard the loud crack, but didn’t hear a scream. He shoved his brother away, feeling ill, and lept over the bed past Boxer and made for the door before he could grab him.

 

Flint blocked the doorway. His hand went for his gun. Birdy ducked, striking out his hand and whacking Flint’s arm away just as the blaster fired into the floor. He burst out into the hallway, shoulder crashing into the wall. He turned quickly and hit the button on the control panel, locking his brothers inside.

 

Everything happened in about thirty seconds. Stunned and ill, he reached to tap his commlink. _ Shit _ . His armour was still in the cabin, along with his commlink and blaster. In his undershirt and trousers he felt bare.

 

He turned, and he ran. He ran to find General Kenobi, to find Rex and Fives. The sound of his brother’s fists pounding on the metal door chased him down the hallway.

**Author's Note:**

> They're all in for a bad time. It's gonna be fun! I'm going to try and fit the rest of the story in to three chapters. Sorry to use an non-canon characters POV for the last part, but it was necessary for the set up. The main focus of the story is going to be on Maul and Obi-wan.
> 
> Thank you Leon for proofreading this story for me, though correcting my grammar must have given you a headache. You're the best!
> 
> I won't promise when the next update will come, because any time I do I'm punished for my hubris and never end up finishing the story. So...stay tuned!


End file.
